CompanionTale
by Crystal Prime
Summary: Everyone wants to know about the hero's story, but many times those that supported them are lost to history. After all, I don't remember hearing much about Hamilton in school, though he was Washington's right hand man during the American Revolution. I am not here to take the glory, merely to tell my story. After all, no one can save a whole peoples on their own...
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes:** Now, I know what you are thinking. Oh great, another story that will take forever to be finished, if it ever will. And, well, yes, it's another story before I finish the others. But I need to do something to get my muse working again and posting something is better than nothing, right? If I keep my muse working, it will periodically go back to those others I have in progress as well. Much of that progress has been halted because of my work on rewriting Your War, Our Battle and because Across the Galaxy is connected to it, I've been waiting to update it until I reach a certain point in Your War, Our Battle... I might try to return to my old schedule, but we'll see if it will work.

 **A/N 2:** This is a prologue. Depending on how things go between now and when I have the first actual chapter done, it may even be a prologue to the prologue. We'll see how what I am writing now fits in. I recently have entered the Undertale fandom and fallen in love with various comics. Endertale by TC-69 is what brought me into the fandom. I have also recently found Shattered Realities by Ink-Mug, Handplates by zarla and the Dadster comics by TheBombDiggity66. I have to say, I have fallen in love with all of these verses, though Diggity's version of Gaster is thus far my favorite. Ink-Mug's version is quite good as well. Zarla's version is a great villain take on the man, a good example of "the way to war is paved with good intentions." Unless I missed something, though, TC hasn't done anything with Gaster, but I love their story all the same and Endertale will forever have a special place in my heart for being what broke my stubbornness and allowed me to get into the fandom I once turned from, because...well, honestly I don't know why I kept ignoring everything to do with it. I just held no interest. I found myself growing to love Sans as I saw the fanart of him, just because the fanart I saw spawn from his character always made me smile as I saw it in passing, and one day I came across page 1 of TC's Consequences and that was that. I went and read their Endertale and the rest is history, as they say. XD

Sans, Papyrus and Gaster are all my favorite characters for sure. I loathe to see the day when Toby comes out with concrete stuff about Gaster and all the headcannon I am slowly developing about him is shown to be false. I will be so sad. But that is neither here nor there as of this time, so without further adu, let us dive into this tale of Underground craziness.

Actually, no, I have one more thing to say...This is a self-insert type story, so be warned. No, my OC does not replace Frisk, not at all. Yes, there might be some cases where there is a Mary-sue trait, but every character has those traits, what is important is that you provide proper, realistic explanations for those traits and that they are not just piled on your character. I have plans that I don't know for sure whether they will work, so be aware some chapters may take a longer time than others to be completed for reasons more than just my muse not working or business(the later actually being the culprit more often than not anymore), as I tweek and play with scenarios until they work with what I have and cover anything that needs to be addressed. Some things may not be addressed fully immediately either, such as the reason why what was done to my OC was done. This prologue does start a year prior to the events of the game, so keep that in mind(though how important that actually is, I don't know, just feel the need to mention it). Also I usually have a romance sub-plot in my stories, but I don't know if I will have one in this story. I may sometime later down the line, I may not. We will see if anything just flows out of it naturally. I am a big stickler for keeping cannon couples together, though, so Alphys and Undyne will remain a couple... do monsters work the same way as humans do when it comes to such things? I don't know. XD I will do my best not to make it come out as awkward!

And NOW let's get to it!

 **Prologue: The Great Escape**

 _Away. I gotta get away._

The words repeated themselves in my mind as I ran clumsily through the forest. I tripped over my own paws, unused to them, but each time I stumbled or fell, I righted myself and kept going. The rustling of the leaves and heavy footsteps behind me urged me to keep going lest those who had done this to me catch up.

"Get back here!" a voice cried out.

"We have to catch her! If anyone finds out what we've done before…" another voice trailed off.

"I know!" the first voice cut them off.

 _Run, run, gotta run. Gotta get away._

I couldn't even stop to think about where I was going or what I would do when I escaped. I wouldn't stop until I was free. Until I was no longer just someone's experiment. I just ran. No matter how many times I stumbled or fell down, I kept running. Even when the sounds of pursuit eventually faded into distance, my new canine legs carrying me further faster than my human legs had ever carried me before.

And then I was falling. Tumbling through the air in a fall started by another one of my many stumbles. Tripped by a loose vine on the ground, I fell and I tumbled until at last I landed. I landed hard on the ground, fall cushioned to some decree by a thick bed of yellow flowers, whose petals flew into the air with the impact. I felt, and heard, the bone in one of my front legs crack from the force of the fall. One of my hind paws, the opposing one to the front leg, hurt as well. I yelped at the pain, despite my best attempts to be quiet.

Painfully, I lifted my head to look up at the light filtering in from above, searching for a way back out and seeing none. But those who chased me would be able to descend just fine if they were careful. And then carry me back out. I had to move before they realized what had happened. And so, I forced myself to my feet. I couldn't put even a mediocre amount of weight on my broken leg, so I was forced to hold it in the air and place more pressure on my hurt hind paw than I would've liked.

I could've turned to my humanoid form, but in my panicked state, I didn't see how that might've helped. Besides, doing so would've risked further damage to my front leg, what would be my arm, so who knows if it even would have been prudent. It could've rendered the limb irreparable. So I limped on, making very slow progress away from the bed of disturbed flowers and into the darkness of this underground cavern.

"Oh! Someone's there!" I heard a voice coming from the direction I was headed as I collapsed, panting.

I couldn't bring myself to move again, even as I heard them approaching. I looked up at them weakly as they hovered over me.

"A monster? But how did you get here?" they asked as I looked at them blurily.

My ear that still had the tracker attached to it twitched, bringing their attention to it.

"W-what's this?" her, I was pretty sure they were female, voice seemed to waver as they gently took hold of my ear, inspecting the device.

"P-please….r-remove i-it…" I managed to get out. "I-I'll e-explain l-later…"

"Oh dear, you poor wolf," she sounded like she was struggling as she continued to inspect it. "Are you sure? It doesn't look like I can remove it without hurting you further…"

"T-this...is n-nothing...c-compared…" I trailed off as my vision darkened with each passing moment and I fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

Toriel frowned, heart going out to the monster, it was a monster right?, she had found as she scooped it up into her arms. After it had fallen into unconsciousness, she had removed the device as carefully as she could, destroying it—she didn't know why, but she felt it was the best course of action—and pocketing the remains to examine at a later time. She had then examined the wolf, taking note of her injuries and markings.

She was a wolf, though the fur around her neck, end of muzzle, lower jaw and paws was purple while there were black markings under her eyes along with black dots above her eyes and black at the end of her ears and tail. It was these markings that had her originally assuming the beast to be a monster, though she had no idea what a monster would be doing falling into the Underground just now. The fact the wolf could speak was another piece of evidence pointing to this assumption being correct, though did nothing to change the strangeness of this discovery.

As for injuries, things didn't look all that great for the poor wolf. Her front left leg was broken, fractured almost all the way through, while her hind right paw was sprained. A couple ribs were also slightly cracked and, of course, the freshly bleeding ear where she had cut out the device. These physical ailments, however, were not what worried Toriel. What worried her was the possible mental damage whatever the wolf had gone through could've left behind.

" _T-this...is n-nothing...c-compared…"_

Her words, spoken so brokenly, hinted at what she had gone through before arriving here. It was those words, coupled with the injuries, that had Toriel hurrying to her home where she could safely heal the wolf. When she reached her home, she laid the wolf down on the bed in the spare bedroom she used to house any humans that fell down. Then she gently laid her hands on the wolf and they began glowing as she focused on healing the wolf. She closed her eyes, focusing on healing her.

 _Toriel looked around the white landscape she always found herself in while healing someone. Something felt a little different about this one though. There was the usual feeling, where she could sense the patient's emotions, but there was a slightly different feel to the identifying magic. It wasn't quite what she would expect from a wolf monster. There was an undercurrent of wolf magic, but it was mute, as if shoved down so as not to affect anything. She heard a sniff and turned around, only for her eyes to widen at the sight in front of her. It wasn't the image of a wolf, as she would've expected from a wolf monster, but of a human woman._

 _The woman sat there, tears falling from their eyes as they curled in on themselves, looking at her in fear and heartbreak. She was also surrounded by what appeared to be the remains of walls that had shattered apart. The signs pointed to them being forcefully destroyed rather than gently worked past, a process that would've damaged the emotional state. The sight broke Toriel's heart as she approached slowly, sending reassurance over the healing bond and doing everything she could to show that she meant no harm. Despite tensing with each step forward, the woman allowed Toriel to get close enough to sink to her knees and pull the woman into a hug._

" _I-I don't u-unders-stand…" the woman cried into her shoulder. "W-why t-they d-did t-this…"_

" _Shhh," Toriel hushed her, placing a hand on the back of her head. "You can tell me when you are ready. For now, focus on getting healed."_

 _The woman nodded, wrapping her arms around her and holding on as if afraid she was going to disappear. As if she was the first friendly face she had seen in a long time._

" _What's your name?" Toriel asked gently._

" _K-Karda…" she answered._

" _Where do you come from?" Toriel asked._

" _Doesn't matter…" Karda replied, emotional state evening out, but not in a good place yet. "Can't go back…."_

 _She broke into sobs again, heartbroken and Toriel's heart broke for her once again. She held her tighter as she continued healing her. She whispered encouraging words to her and gave her as much support as she could. Eventually she learned what had happened to her. A group of humans_ _had plucked her from her home and took her to some facility where they ran experiments on her, turning her into some kind of monster-human hybrid for unknown purposes._

" _W-what they hadn't counted on," Karda was saying as the healing was coming to an end. "Was my stubbornness to hold to the values I was taught and hold dear. T-they kept trying to make me do bad things….l-like kill people...but I wouldn't, I refused. I-I escaped and ran and ran and ran a-and then I fell and then you found me."_

" _And that thing you asked me to remove from your ear?"_

" _A tracker," she replied. "If left in working order, it would lead them here. They...they would've taken me back….they may have even…" She trailed off, swallowing back another sob._

 _Toriel pulled her back into a hug. "Don't worry, the device is destroyed. You don't have to worry."_

* * *

I shivered as Toriel massaged the shampoo into my fur as I stood in her bathtub. She was using warm enough water, so it wasn't that I was cold, just that my legs were still a little weak. Toriel's healing had mended the broken bones and healed the sprained ankle, but it hadn't restored my strength. It would be a few days, at least, before I was back to full health. In the meantime, I needed to get clean of the mud and dirt that I had gotten covered in during my escaped. I was still hesitant to turn to my human form, worried about it harming the healing process.

"Now I know why most of my dogs never particularly cared for baths," I said, tone light and humorous. "Wet fur is _heavy_."

Toriel chuckled as she shampooed/scratched behind my ears. "You'll get used to it," she smiled.

I was silent for a moment as Toriel began rinsing the soap off. I waited until she was done and then got out of the bathtub. I planted my paws and shook the excess water off my fur as I had seen many dogs do in my lifetime. My action made Toriel laugh as she held her arms up to shield herself from the onslaught of water. She stopped me, though, by throwing a towel over me and drying me most of the way off.

Toriel let me stay with her as I recovered and life living in the Ruins with her was nice and relaxing. I spent much of my time in my new wolf form, getting used to it and enjoying the new abilities it gave me. Part of the reason for that, a big reason in fact, was that it was hard looking at myself in the mirror in my humanoid form. I looked mostly the same, but my wolf ears and tail remained from my wolf form. I wasn't sure whether it was cause it reminded me of what I lost, what had been done to me, or just that it was so weird. I had never liked looking at myself in the mirror to begin with. I often found it hard to look in the mirror and feel like I was looking at myself. I had just been getting to a place where I was reversing that when this happened and now, I couldn't see myself in the mirror at all. It felt as if what was done to me had changed who I was. I knew my friends would rebuke me for such thoughts, but it was hard to keep them at bay.

Especially with that odd presence in the back of my mind. Constantly reinforcing any negative thought I had of myself as it was, it made those thoughts at least twice as hard to combat. I had always had problems with self-esteem, ever since my parents divorced, so it wasn't anything new, just a little more intense. It was frustrating, in a way, since all my previous progress at mending my mental and emotional scars had been practically erased. In some ways, those scars even grew wider. I longed to be that always-happy-no-matter-what person my mom had told me I once was again. I was sure it probably hurt her more than it did myself when she saw my emotional state and self esteem crumbling. Just as it broke my heart seeing those I care about struggling. After all, I inherited most of my traits from her.

I was pretty sure Toriel knew I was struggling emotionally. I often caught her looking at me with a saddened expression and when she wrote in her journal, she looked very pensive. I did my best to move past what had happened, for her sake as much as my own, but it was not easy. At night I was plagued by nightmares that Toriel often woke me from and during the day I was haunted by memories, emotions and loss. Every now and then I could find genuine joy when I acted goofy and played around with Toriel.

As time waned on, it became easier to find joy and happiness and eventually I was able to spend more time in my humanoid form, feeling more comfortable in my old form. Seeing me spend more and more time enjoying my life and in both forms seemed to give Toriel happiness, so I kept pushing myself to become a better me, to get back some semblance of who I had once been. I even began joining her and our mysterious visitor on the other side of the door in jokes. While they told puns, I told stories from my previous life. I was never good at puns, at the delivery of them, so I stuck with what I was good at. Storytelling. It wasn't too hard to find funny stories to tell, the number of them had grown exponentially since I had met my friends.

Life with Toriel was good, though I missed my old family and friends. Sometimes, when I missed them the most, a thought would enter my head to leave, but something always stopped me. I could tell Toriel had been lonely before I arrived and it made me sad to think she'd be alone again when I left. Also… And I would never admit this to Toriel… But sometimes...When I lay awake at night, trying to fall asleep to no avail… Some voice in my head would try to convince me that I needed to kill Toriel and any other monster who got in my way… And then kill any humans I saw…

I never agreed, of course. I won't pretend I am a perfect person, that I never hurt anyone, but one thing I had never done was kill someone. And that was something I never wanted to change. I prayed nothing ever happened where I wouldn't have a choice. The phrase I lived by was "Keep it real and spread the love" after all. At least, that is what I told people, as it was what I endeavored to do. Was I perfect? No. But I wouldn't let this voice convince me to go on a killing spree.

I mean, who would even think of doing that? Only a terrible person… Wait… Does that mean I am terrible? Some part of me clearly hates the world… No, no, I don't….That's not me… It can't be… I feel too much empathy to truly want such a thing…

 ** _But do you, really?_**

I startled and sat half-way up from where I had been trying to sleep, whole body shaking from the shock. I quickly scanned the room for the presence, but I could see nothing, despite feeling it. I flinched, growling as I realized it must've come from inside again. I sighed in frustration.

 _Will it ever end?..._

 ** _You'd like that, would you? It would end if you just..._**

 _Shut. Up._

I turned somewhat violently to my side as I laid back down and shut my eyes, blocking out the thoughts and willing myself to sleep. These nights were the worst.

 ** _Someday, you won't be able to stop me._**


	2. Chapter 1 - Meet the Child

**A/N:** Thank you to those who have already followed and favorited this story. :D I didn't expect anyone to even noticed me post anything cause it has been so long since I have posted an update to anything. Honestly, I feel like I have fallen to irrelevancy not only here where I used to be active, but also in my new things, like my youtube and such. I know ultimately I don't make any money from this stuff, but whether you yourself benefit or gain from something shouldn't be the deciding factor on it. I just want to bring a smile to people's faces. So as long as there is hope to doing that, I will keep trying to continue all that I do and maybe someday I can finish one of these cotton-pickin' stories! XD

 **Question:** I have been unable to find any concrete information on the six humans who fell before Frisk aside from their soul colors, what those colors mean and what items connect to which soul owner. Has Toby Fox given us _any_ information on them besides that? Or are all the headcannons based solely on what we can find in the Underground? I know many claim the humans were all children, but I find that the items found don't all necessarily fit only children. Such as the bandanna, the weapons and the cowboy hat even could be worn by a child even if it is meant for an adult(though it would be tricky to keep it on their head). The tutu, yes, I agree that is definitely a child's and maybe even the apron(though it could be argued that Frisk can modify it to fit them-not that it would look all that great if they did). The shoes all say they are children's shoes as well, but an adult might not leave any shoes behind as they might be less inclined to stay around long enough to have shoes to leave behind. Disclaimer real quick that I will be assuming some of the humans to be adults in this universe, but I haven't got it completely sorted out yet on which will be adults and children. But I'd like to know if there is any concrete answer to what is cannon yet?

Also, do we have anything on Frisk's past? I have one head cannoned for this story, but I can't find anything about that either. I assume it is because Frisk is so much a blank slate that we are to impose our own pasts for them, but I digress. I'd be interested to know what Toby Fox's head cannons about his own game are. :)

 **Disclaimer:** Undertale, the characters from and the world all belong to Toby Fox. Karda is mine as well as the plot to this particular story, but I do not own anything else in this except for possible future OCs. Also the idea behind Frisk's backstory is my own, but I have no quelms with people using it as long as they do so in a way unique to them.

 **Chapter One - Meet the Child**

"Are you alright, young one?" Toriel asked, looking over her shoulder as she placed some groceries on the counter.

I sighed, not moving from where I was laying on the floor in my wolf form, not even moving my head. "I miss them."

"Your family?" she asked, looking at me in concern.

"And friends," I confirmed. "I wonder if anyone looked for me…" My ears folded back as I tilted my head to the side, looking away from where Toriel stood. "Or if they would still accept me."

"Oh, my dear, I'm sure they would," Toriel said, walking over and kneeling, placing a hand on my head. "Speaking as a mother, I bet your mom at least would love to see you again, ears and all."

"Well I know she would," I said and sighed, tears filling my eyes. I rolled over onto my back to stare at the ceiling, paws folded down in front of me. "And I know I should know my closest friends would as well...it is just hard. I...I loved them all so much…but I just have all these doubts all the time..."

"I know you do," Toriel said softly. She was silent for a moment. "We have a guest coming and I want to bake them a pie, do you want to help? It might help distract you."

"Sure," I said and stood, transforming into my humanoid form as I did so.

I wondered who it could be visiting us. I had been with Toriel for a year and during that time we never had any visitors aside from our punny friend from the other side of the door. And our joke friend _never_ came inside the Ruins, though I often wondered why. Perhaps he was finally coming in to properly meet us. That would be exciting, to finally know the face behind the door.

* * *

"Karda, this is our guest," Toriel told me as she introduced me to a human child. "Their name is Frisk."

I looked down at the kid from where I was leaning back in a kitchen chair in surprise. Our guest was a human child? What were they doing down here? Who were they? Had they fallen or come down purposely? Was there anyone on the surface looking for them? Had they run away? Kicked out? Did they get captured by the same group who had me and escaped as well? What would they do now that they were here? How concerned should I be? Concerned for them? Or the residents of the Underground? So many questions...yet all I could say was…

"Hey kid." I gave a wave before my chair fell over backwards and I crashed to the ground. "Omph!"

"See now, that is why I am always telling you not to lean like that!" Toriel told me as she rushed over to help me up.

I grinned sheepishly as I took her hand, allowing her to help me to my feet. "Haha, yeaahhh. Guess I just had to fall for the kid."

Toriel blinked as giggling reached her ears. She turned to see that Frisk was giggling at my terrible pun and then chuckled herself. "You are getting the hang of puns, I see."

"Maybe just a trickle," I said, pointing to the trickling faucet.

"Has that been…?" Toriel asked as the kid continued giggling.

"Going since you left? Yup. The handles are all tightened and I can't find a problem with the pipes either. It must be further down the pipeline than what we can see," I told her.

 _And I'll probably never say another good pun in my life,_ I thought to myself as Toriel sighed.

"I'll see if I can get someone to come out to fix it," she said.

 _ **She says no one can come into the Ruins, but she comes and goes somehow, and now she says someone will come in to fix the pipes.**_

 _Hush it, I am not going down that train of thought._

 _ **You know it's suspicious too, don't you? She wants to keep you here. She likely will prevent the human from leaving as well.**_

 _Hush it, I'm sure she has her reasons._ I chose to ignore how their statement at least somewhat implied that I was not human as well. "The human"? More accurately it would be "the human child" or "the other human."

 _ **Excusable ones? For hostage holding? Monsters and humans are all terrible. You can't tell me you haven't seen it.**_

 _I can see why they chose you for their twisted experiments… I have stayed of my own volition and you know that, now shut up._

"Karda? Are you okay?" Toriel's voice brought me back to reality.

I started a little, having not realized it was so obvious that my mind had been occupied with the inner dialogue. And here I had done such a good job of hiding it until now. This voice that could only be coming from the monster soul that was infused into mine was something I had managed to keep hidden, but it was starting to get more annoying as time waned on. I would have to tell someone eventually, find a solution to deal with this that wouldn't waned on me—because realistically I didn't know for how long I could keep going like this—but Toriel was not the one to help with it. She didn't strike me as someone who dealt with souls.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," I smiled and rubbed my head sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I must've just spaced out." I laughed nervously.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Frisk moved forward and hugged me around my waist. It surprised me and for a moment all I could do was stare down at him in surprise, but eventually I hugged him back.

"Don't worry, it'll be ok," Frisk said and I tilted my head at his words.

"Thanks, kid…" I said, not sure how else to respond. From his tone, it almost seemed like he knew what I was going through. But that wasn't possible….was it?

"Come my child, I will show you to your room," Toriel smiled and Frisk walked off to follow her. I watched as they took each other's hands and walked off toward the bedrooms.

As I watched them, I was struck with an odd air of familiarity and I got the sense that this had happened before. _Has this….happened…before?_

 _ **Nonsense. If it had, I would be aware of it.**_

 _A little arrogant there, aren't you?_

 _ **Tch. I'm pretty sure I would notice a time loop.**_

I frowned. _Perhaps a dream, then. I've had those plenty of times to be a viable possibility._

 _ **More believable, but a mundane thing to dream about, isn't it?**_

 _Most my non-nightmare dreams are mundane anymore._ I wondered if it was though. A dream? Or a time loop? A dream was more likely. After all, there wasn't anyone who could manipulate time. Was there? In any case, I had enough dreams come to pass in exact detail, right down to the realization of deja vu, that I was more inclined to believe it. Besides, time loops don't occur in exacts, right? From my understanding of the butterfly effect, Murphy's Law and snowballing, there'd always be at least something different. If they even are a real thing. And was their assertion that they would notice a time loop true, or the words of an arrogant monster who desperately hoped the idea of a time loop was merely that—an idea?

 _Heh, that's the most civil conversation we've ever had._

 _ **Don't let that make you think I don't still want to kill everyone.**_

 _Oh, I won't. And you still won't get to._

I sighed and returned to my previous occupation of leaning back in my chair as the voice, who I still didn't have a name to, grumbled about being attached to a "pansy-ass-people-lover."

If I had to be honest, sometimes their insults amused me more than got to me. I mean, it's not like I had never been called names before and now I discovered the one that got to me the most wasn't exactly what I thought it was. When you learn there's whole species of actual monsters, being called a monster doesn't sound so bad anymore. The concept had been the hurtful part and living with Toriel definitely put a different spin on the word. It kind of put things into perspective. "Monster" was now no more an insult to me than being told that I am human. And being immune to what was once the worst insult from my point of view meant that other insults, that probably held more insult to them, didn't quite sound the same either.

Of course, I wasn't always immune to the insults, more times than not they would get to me. That was mostly because usually they were thrown when I was already in the middle of my own misery and self-deprecation. Insults are more powerful for me when I already feel like they are true. And the voice loved to pounce on every insecure moment I ever had.

"Karda!"

Toriel's scold startled me and once again I found myself falling to the floor. She just sighed and facepalmed as I tumbled backwards, landing on my stomach, just laying there in disorientation.

"I can't help it," I defended myself. "I get anxious."

"Then stop sitting there and do something," Toriel told me.

"Like whaaaat?"

"Why don't you go for a walk?"

"I suppose that might help," I agreed and then got to my feet, righting the chair in the process.

"Are you ok, Karda? You seem off today…" Toriel looked at me in worry over her shoulder from where she had rushed into the kitchen to get something out of the oven.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told her. "Just anxious. A walk is probably just what I need. I'll see you later!"

"Well, ok," she didn't sound convinced, but didn't stop me as I walked out the door.

I sighed when I exited the ruins and shook my head at myself. One of these days, I was going to have to leave, temporarily at the very least, to deal with this issue of my soul being infused with another soul. It didn't feel like it was a very healthy thing to ignore with the nature this soul seemed to have. It was….self-destructive at best, destructive to everyone else at worst—if I didn't maintain my control that worst would be so.

* * *

 **~Two Days Later~**

I ran alongside the frisbee Frisk had thrown, tongue hanging out in a doggy grin. As I saw it start descending, I tensed my muscles, getting reader to leap into the air. When it was just too high, I began my leap and reached out for it, catching it as it soared over my head. I clamped down on the edge with my teeth as my body twisted around and I landed on my paws, now facing back toward Frisk. I walked back to the kid as he cheered happily at my catch and smiled as I returned the disc to him.

"Glad to see you smile, kid," I changed into my human form and ruffled their hair. "There for a while, I thought I'd never see it."

Frisk just grinned at me before their expression fell and they looked down, twiddling their fingers. I frowned at the sudden change in body language, wondering what was up.

"What's wrong, kid? Was it something I said?" I inquired.

"Is it wrong of me to want to go home?" he asked in a small voice.

"..." I blinked at the question, confused as to how he could ever think that could be wrong. I kneeled down in front of him, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Of course not, kid. Whatever would give you that idea?"

"I…" Frisk rubbed his arm, tears gathering in his eyes. "My parents kicked me out….a-and told me never to come back."

"Hm," I hummed, making a face.

 _ **Told you humans are terrible.**_

 _You need to stop judging based on the few. Now shut up, this doesn't concern you._

"Kid, if anyone is in the wrong here, it would be your parents, not you. You are a child, it is only natural that you want your parents to be around and to care. It is not your fault that they failed as parents," I explained, hoping I wasn't butchering the idea I was trying to convey. "And wanting to reconcile with them is natural too. I…" I stopped myself before continuing, they didn't need to know my life story and my story wasn't exactly inspiring. "I think if you want to try to reconcile, you should, but don't let it destroy you if it doesn't work out." I told him instead.

Frisk nodded, wiping away his tears before tackling me in a tight hug.

I sighed, hugging them back, feeling empathy for them. I knew what it was like to have a bad parent, though at least I had had my mom, who would've never kicked me out, especially not as a child. "Does this mean you want to leave the ruins?"

He nodded into my shirt. "D-do you think Toriel will be mad?"

I could almost hear the sneer and I-told-you-she's-a-problem from the monster inside, but ignored it. "I'm not sure, but I don't think so." I told the kid as he backed up from me, wiping the rest of his tears away. "I think she will be more concerned about you getting hurt along the way. Do you want to talk to her about it now?"

He shook his head. "No, maybe tomorrow," he said.

"Ok...but the longer you wait, the harder it will be," I warned. "I speak from experience here."

The kid looked at me. "Do you….do you want to leave as well?"

I considered the kid for a moment and frowned at their expression. Their eyes seemed to say that he already knew the answer to that question. I had been getting the impression from him a lot that he knew what my answers would be, but I didn't see how that could be. How much did this kid know and how did he know it?

I sighed, giving in to the searching look he had slowly developed. "Yes…" I told him. "There's some answers I need to find and…. I do have some family and friends who would probably like to know that I'm alive…"

"On the surface, right?" Frisk asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do you know that?"

They turned fidgety. "Uh...um, Toriel told me she found you almost at the same place she found me," Frisk explained. "But she also said no one comes here, s-so that means you had to have fallen as well."

I stared at him, not sure if I bought his explanation. It was certainly a plausible one and it could be he made an educated guess. I sighed, pushing away thoughts of how suspicious it was. I would trust him until given a reason to believe he was lying. He was just a kid after all.

 _ **Telling me you never lied as a child?**_

 _No. I didn't start hiding things until I was older._

 _ **Oh how good of you.**_

I chose to ignore the sneer and condescension that statement was slathered with. "Ok, kid, why don't we go inside? Toriel's probably got some dinner ready by now."

Frisk nodded and went inside. Dinner was unusually silent and it made me nervous. I didn't like not telling Toriel about the kid's desire to leave, but I wanted the kid to come forward himself. Hiding things wasn't good, but telling other people's secrets broke trust. This was, though, an issue of safety. I didn't know how safe the kid would be to go on this journey. By the time the kid left to go to bed, I had come to the decision to speak to Toriel about it.

"The kid wants to go home," I told her as we began cleaning up the kitchen. I always helped clean up, feeling it was the least I could do for all her help and her continued housing and kindness.

"I know he does," Toriel sighed. "I don't blame them, but…"

"But you don't want him to go," I surmised when she trailed off.

"You are not the first to fall down here…" Toriel hung her head sadly.

"I surmised that from the various objects left behind in the room you have Frisk and I in," I said. "Your species doesn't exactly seem like you wear shoes." I lifted my foot, pointing at it since I hadn't removed my shoes yet.

Toriel chuckled slightly at how I said it. Then she was silent.

"So," I took the dish she had stopped cleaning from her and began cleaning it off myself. "How many? And what happened to them?"

"There were six humans before you," Toriel replied. "Some children, some adults like you... Each and every one of them died before they could make it. _He_ killed them."

"He?" I asked.

"The King of Monsters, Asgore, my...ex-husband…" Toriel explained.

"But why?" I asked, frowning. "I mean, if you are any indication, monsters do not just kill without reason. Of course, I'm sure there are exceptions like there are for humans, but still."

Toriel sighed. "If you really want to know, I will explain the story to you."

I nodded. "Yeah, um," I looked around momentarily. "I have a feeling this is gonna be a sad tale, though, so let me make some hot chocolate first."

"Of course," Toriel smiled sadly as I moved to make the drink.

Once we both had some hot chocolate, with very generous amounts of whip cream, we sat down at the table and Toriel began her explanation of events. Long ago, well after monsters had been banished underground, a human child named Chara had fallen into the Underground. Toriel and Asgore adopted the child and began raising them as their own alongside their son, Asriel. One day Chara became very ill and they didn't know what to do. In an effort to fulfill Chara's dying wish, Asriel consumed the child's soul and went to the surface so Chara could see the flowers in her home village. When he did so, a group of humans caught him and shot him, killing not only Asriel, but Chara as well, as Chara existed inside Asriel due to their soul being consumed by him.

"So, that's normal then?" I asked, more to myself as a reflection than an actual question. I spoke it so silently that thankfully Toriel didn't fully hear me.

"Pardon me?" she asked, looking at me in concern.

"Oh, um, nothing," I waved her concern off. "Just kind of reflecting that sounds like a typical human reaction. Humans tend to be afraid of the unknown, or things that are different. They probably assumed Asriel had killed Chara, rather than bringing them there to fulfill a dying wish. People are...quick to assume and judge, unfortunately. At least, that is an issue I have observed within human society."

"Hm," Toriel hummed and I got the distinct impression she didn't buy that that was all I had on my mind. I wouldn't be surprised if she suspected anything about my struggles, since she already knew my soul was intertwined with that of a monster, albeit one she doesn't recognize. "Yes…I have thought that might have been the case as well."

"It doesn't excuse their actions, though," I said, leaning back in my chair as I held my hot chocolate with one hand while the other held the table to prevent falling. I ignored Toriel's stern look as I continued. "The world would be a much better place if people took the time to understand a situation before acting. I suppose human's rashness is why monsters were banished to begin with and why some would cover up the mere existence of monsters."

"I never thought about it that way myself," Toriel said, looking at me. "I also didn't know our existence was covered up."

"I had a lot of time to think as a captive," I sighed. "I didn't even know about the existence of monsters until then...some supervised time in a room full of history...it was all biased, of course, but it was part of their efforts to turn me into their own brand of a monster—in the concept version of the word—and I'm not so gullible to not think about it before believing it all."

Toriel looked down and then looked at me in concern. "Have you had any luck learning who it is they infused into your soul?"

I shook my head. "Nope," I told her. "They are not a pleasant monster, like you are. They aren't much for conversation unless they're…" I stopped myself before revealing the nature of our conversations. "Well, they aren't much for conversation, let's just say that."

Toriel's expression became suspicious. "Karda, if there is something I should know…"

"Toriel, please," I sighed, hanging my head slightly, causing my bangs to fall in front of my eyes. "It is not as if there is anything you could do about it if a problem exists. I am a human carrying an unpleasant monster's soul inside me and that's just something I have to live with." Making sure he didn't harm anyone was my responsibility, even if I hadn't asked for this to happen.

"But it's not like you asked for this to happen," Toriel said. "There must be something that can be done… If they are unpleasant as you say…"

"Then I will have to deal with it," I cut her off with a shake of my head. "Unless you deal in meddling with souls…" The irate look on her face told me everything I needed to know about that. "...then there is nothing to be done about it."

We fell into a silence before I let my chair fall back to sit on all four legs, holding my mug in both hands in front of me as I looked at her.

"Now, about the rest of the story," I said.

Toriel sighed and launched into further explanation of what had transpired since. I listened patiently, running the information through my mind and trying to see things from the points of view of all involved. I could see where Asgore was coming from, even if I couldn't bring myself to agree with the way he handled it. I could also see that the way I personally would've preferred, which I suspected would be the way Toriel would have preferred, might not have been possible depending on the people who had fallen.

"So," I said after the story. "Will you let Frisk go?"

"Would you, knowing all this?" Toriel inquired.

I hummed in thought for a moment. "Not alone, not at their age," I replied. "But he does deserve a chance to try to fix things between his parents and him. I dunno what happened, so, again, I probably wouldn't let him go alone. Legally, we can't keep him here against his will without repercussions, well-intentioned or not. If he wishes to leave before he grows up, and he likely will, I will go with him to make sure he isn't harmed along the way."

"I see," Toriel ducked her head. "But then you might be hurt as well."

"And I'd be ok with that to keep him safe," I shrugged. "I suspect you'd allow yourself to be harmed to protect him as well." I paused as Toriel nodded. "You and I are the same in that respect. We both have that protective motherly instinct. But we can't keep him sheltered forever, it would cause some problems for him later down the road...and would be traumatic if he decides he wants to leave, but we prevent him from going. At the end of the day, neither of us are his mother. We can give him advice and guide him the best we can, but we cannot control his life."

"I understand," she sighed before standing. "I believe our comedian friend should be coming soon if you wish to join us?"

I sighed heavily. "I have a lot to think about, actually," I stared down at my hot chocolate. "I need to sort through my emotions. I have a feeling the kid will want to leave sooner rather than later. I need to… I need to deal with personal stuff on the matter... Perhaps I can join tomorrow."

"Perhaps the jokes might help? Even if you just listen?" Toriel suggested.

I took a moment to think about that and considered past times where I had been in similar emotional states. "True," I agreed. "I'll come, just dunno how much I will contribute."

"That's alright," she smiled as I stood, getting some fresh hot chocolate before following her down the long hall to the door.


	3. Chapter 2 - Of Nightmares and Dreams

**A/N:** Originally I had something else planned for this chapter, but then realized that without exploring the past of this AU, nothing moving forward will make any sense. I am not revealing everything, but I am revealing bits and pieces that should, hopefully, make some things understandable. I will point out that much of the italics here are dreams(or are they?) rather than thoughts as I have been using italics for thus far. There are some places where italics is used for thoughts instead, but I'm fairly certain that which is which will be obvious.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Undertale or the cannon characters and concepts. I own only the plot of this AU and my OCs.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!

 **Chapter Two- Of Nightmares and Dreams**

 _I ran urgently through the snow, ignoring my wounds that had left me unconscious for a while. Why hadn't the kid killed me when I confronted them after they slayed Toriel? I didn't know or understand, but I knew I had to stop them before anyone else was injured._

 _Unfortunately, it seemed I was already too late as the deeper I went into the forest the more dust piles I found, the dust being slowly blown away by the wind. Everywhere I turned there was the dust of fallen monsters and puzzles either solved or left ignored. I followed the trail of death, growing more and more angered as I did. I had trusted this kid and in return they killed everyone?! How dare they! Who did they think they were that they could play god?! Just like_ _ **them**_ _!_

 _I growled as I ran through the small town, noticing how empty it was. No dust. Good. That meant it was evacuated before the kid could kill everyone. At least, I hoped that's what happened. Eventually, I came to a very misty area just beyond the town and stopped in front of a pile of dust upon which laid a red scarf. I sniffed at it, smelling bone, a scent similar to my joke friend Toriel and I spoke to through the door. I whined at the knowledge this poor soul must've been Papyrus, his brother._

 _Footsteps brought my attention up to the approaching skeleton. He kneeled on the other side of the pile and picked up the scarf, cradling it in his boney hands as if it was the most precious thing he had left, tears at the edges of his eye sockets. He looked up at me, one eye glowing blue and the other pitch black._

" _Someone's gonna have a bad time," he said, voice deadly serious._

 _I growled my agreement and let out a howl that was full of mourning at first, but turned warning by the end of it._

I shifted in my sleep, trying to get myself to wake up as I vaguely became aware that I was dreaming. I needed to wake up before this got any worse. I was about to lose the battle when I heard the sound of another's sleep being disturbed. Screams came from the bed where Frisk slept and I was immediately awake and leaping to my feet. I rushed over to Frisk's side and placing a hand on his arm, shaking him gently.

"Frisk! Frisk, wake up! It's just a dream!"

It took some prodding, but I was able to wake the child before Toriel was disturbed, or at least I thought she wasn't disturbed. When he woke up, he immediately buried himself in my arms as he sobbed. It turned out he had been dreaming something similar, except from his point of view and he was killing everyone no matter how hard he tried to stop himself. Some force was making him do it, like what I imagined would happen to me if I lost control over my body. Brokenly, he told me stories that made it sound like the events of his nightmare had actually happened, though that didn't make much sense.

"It was just a dream," I told him, holding him tightly. "No one's dead, Frisk. We're here. Toriel's fine. I'm fine. The other monsters of the Ruins are alive and well. It's okay and it will remain so, I promise. I won't let anything happen. Neither will you. Or Toriel."

Frisk continued sobbing, muttering out apologies that I felt he didn't need to be making. They were just dreams, right? ...Weren't they?

Eventually I was able to distract him with some puzzles and it was when his attention was successfully diverted that I realized Toriel had been listening in at least for part of it, because I saw the hallway light on and heard footsteps leaving. About half an hour later, when Frisk and I were hard at work trying to solve a rubik's cube, Toriel walked into the room with three mugs of hot chocolate along with pie and joined us on the floor to share jokes and stories of a happy nature.

* * *

" _YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH!" Papyrus was telling me._

 _Wait, what? Dangerous path…? What's happening? Wait, why am I moving closer to him so menacing-like? No, stop! I don't want to hurt him! He's Sans's brother! He's my friend! He's…..He's…._

" _HOWEVER, I, PAPYRUS, AM YOUR FRIEND AND I BELIEVE IN YOU!"_

 _I took another step forward against my will. Oh no. Oh no no no no NO! I don't have control. I can't stop myself. He kept going on about how everyone could be good if they tried and I kept moving forward in a menacing fashion, circling him as if stalking my prey as I moved closer and closer. Peripherally I noticed my paws were no longer their usual purple. They were black and covered in dust… The dust of monsters. Oh no. How long had I been gone? Who had I killed? How had I lost control like this? How far gone was I that I could not stop even this?!_

" _I KNOW YOU HAVE IT IN YOU! YOU WERE GOOD BEFORE! REMEMBER OUR JAPES AND PUZZLES?!"_

 _Inside I was screaming for this to end, for the monster who had control over my body to stop. To not kill Papyrus. But it was to no avail. I leapt upon the skeleton, sinking my teeth into his ulna and shaking my head viciously, tearing the bone away from the rest of his body. I tore and ripped at him no matter how much I fought to stop or how much he fought to free himself. I cried out for help, for someone to come and stop me._

 _ **But nobody came.**_

 _Before long Papyrus was nothing but dust and I was walking away, moving on to my next victim. Moving toward Snowdin, where a bunch of unknowing monsters were waiting for me to ruin their day. Inside I cried. I had become the monster_ _ **they**_ _had worked so hard to turn me into._

I jolted awake to the feeling of cold water being poured over top of me. I shouted in surprise and looked around with wide and terrified eyes to find Toriel and Frisk hovering over me with looks of concern. Toriel still held a bucket up in the air in the position it had to have been in when the water had fallen from it to land on me. My panicked and fear-filled eyes landed on them and almost immediately I was out of my bed and in Toriel's arms as I sobbed, clinging to her.

Frisk stood by as added support as Toriel kneeled on the floor to hold me close as I collapsed. His hand gripped my nightshirt and held on with a grip I was sure no one would be able to break as his other hand rested on one of my hands.

Toriel assumed it had been a nightmare about my captivity. Frisk, however, looked like he knew it was something else. Perhaps I had mumbled something in my sleep that told him what it was. Perhaps he knew something I didn't. It was impossible to know, but his look of understanding and forgiveness was enough for me to be grateful to him. When Toriel went to get me some hot chocolate, he hugged me and I held him close, apologizing for reasons unknown to me. He managed to get me to reveal the dream during the time Toriel was out of the room.

"I-I can't let it happen…." I mumbled through my tears.

"We won't," Frisk told me, holding me tighter. "Not again. Never again."

If I had been in a better state, his words would've given me pause. They would've had me questioning why he spoke as if it had actually happened. They would've had me demanding answers as to why he acted like our dreams were memories rather than mere dreams. But I was too messed up to question it. I didn't want to question it. Knowing it was real… Knowing would only destroy me even further.

* * *

 _I hung from my shackles that suspended me from the ceiling, new tail hanging as limp as the rest of me. I glared from underneath half closed eyelids as the man in a lab coat stood in front of me, nonchalantly taking notes on the readings from the monitors around me._

" _Why are you doing this?" I growled out._

" _Because we can." Was the answer given. "Someone has to put a stop to all the evil."_

" _By turning me into an experiment?"_

" _But my dear! You are the key! When this is over, you will be our pawn."_

" _And how do you plan to end all evil?"_

" _By wiping out not only the entire Monster race, but also the entire Human race as well. As long as the two exist, there will always be evil. So we must...start over."_

" _Oh yeah? And who will be left to start over? You?" I could laugh at the idea. "You plan to destroy evil and start over with evil people?" It was ridiculous. Ludicrous even. As ridiculously stupid as Team Flare's plan in the sixth generation of Pokemon._

" _You only think we're evil," the man said, not even looking away from his notes. "You have no place to speak of things you don't understand."_

 _Before I could say anything else, the man nodded to someone else and they pulled a switch. All I knew for hours after that was pain. Intense pain._

I woke up in a cold sweat and sat up to check to see if I had disturbed anyone this time. It seemed I hadn't, but I knew if I went back to sleep it would only be a matter of time before I did. Instead, I got up and left the room, heading for the kitchen as I reflected on the dream. These dreams of the past were a new concept to me. Prior to my captivity, I only dreamed of weird and randoms things, nightmares of things that never happened and sometimes even the odd dream of the future, never of the past. My unconscious mind didn't dwell on the past, only my conscious mind did that. So the fact it was now was….well, it was concerning to say the least.

I made it to the kitchen undisturbed from my thoughts and upon finding it empty, I set about fixing myself a mug of hot chocolate. Preemptively, I also made one for Frisk and returned to the room to find him sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. It seemed he was also woken from a nightmare in a not-so-noisy fashion tonight. I walked over silently and handed him the mug before settling down on the bed next to him. He cuddled up to me and I draped a blanket over the both of us.

"Want to talk about it, kid?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Yeah, me neither," I agreed.

So we just sat there, cuddled up together as we drank our hot chocolate. By the time Toriel came in to tell us breakfast was ready our hot chocolate had long run out and we had built a rather impressive pillow fort. She found it amusing in any case.

* * *

 _I gnawed viciously on the trident that was being used to hold me at bay as I simultaneously clawed at the armor covered forearms attached to the hands that held it._

" _I don't know who you are…." Sans said as he grabbed hold of my soul with his Blue Magic and ripped me away from the King. "But you will release your hold on my friend now! Or else you'll be having a bad time."_

 _I growled as my soul glew, visible as souls were when Sans was using his Blue Magic, the monster's soul more prominent, black upside down heart consuming the green one that glew dimmer by the minute. The green soul was visibly trying to fight for control, but due to its weakened state it was not succeeding._

" _Hechhechhech," I, or rather, they laughed with a twisted grin. "You really think you can save her, don't you? You don't even know her_ real _name! Hechhechhech! She didn't even trust you with that! What makes you think you can reach her?!"_

 _Sans's expression grew dark even as Asgore slammed his trident down, trapping the wolf underneath its prongs to make double sure it didn't escape. Sans kneeled in front of the wolf monster, shadow covering his face. "You clearly don't know everything, dog breath," he said. Then his expression shifted into a gentle one. "Crystal? You in there? Come on! You're making this old bag of bones worried."_

 _The green soul pulsed in response to his words and for a brief moment it seemed to fight harder._

" _You wouldn't want me to become just a chew toy, would ya? You know I've put a lot of backbone into getting this far."_

 _The pulse grew stronger and the wolf growls viciously, trying to escape from the hold the monsters had over him. "What are you doing?! STOP! NO!"_

" _NO! YOU STOP!" I screamed, spirit momentarily exiting my body to deliver a hard punch to the wolf's head._

 _I didn't even regret the intense headache I had as I regained control. The wolf form returned to its appearance it held when I was in control as my green soul forced the black one back into the background, though it remained cracked beyond what it should be to be able to hold control. I shifted into my human form as I was released, albeit hesitantly, from Asgore's trident. I sat back on my knees and faced Sans, tears streaming down my face._

" _OH my god, Sans….what did I do?!" I asked, breaking down. "Everyone's dead! Pap….Tori….I...I killed them!" I wailed, falling to the ground, a broken soul barely holding control. My soul, still visible, wavered as I struggled to maintain control even as it cracked even more with the realizations I was coming to._

" _It's not your fault, Crystal," Sans told me, kneeling and pulling me into a hug._

 _I hissed as I pulled away. "N-no," I quivered. "Sans you can't….you've got to…."_

" _Don't worry, we're gonna fix it," Sans told me. "The kid should be resetting any moment."_

" _Resetting?" I asked in confusion, giving him a perplexed look. I looked over to Asgore, who was watching me closely, clearly prepared to put an end to me the moment I lost control again. I looked back to Sans with a look that must've screamed pain and suffering with the way he his expression fell. "How are you going to fix this?! Everyone's dead! And it's...it's my fault!" My soul cracked again and black started oozing out. "Cause I couldn't….I couldn't…."_

" _It'll be okay."_

 _And then everything went black._

I woke up with a shout that startled Frisk out of sleep so much his little body flew about a foot off his bed. He landed in a daze with his blanket falling back on him, covering half his face as he turned to look at me. I just sat there, head in my hands as I replayed the events of the dream in my head. I had killed everyone in the Underground except for Sans and Asgore. The kid must've escaped too from Sans's words, but everyone else….everyone else was killed by my own paws. The images wouldn't leave my mind's eye and I kept feeling like I was missing something here. Something was telling me these weren't just dreams. But they were, weren't they?

They had to be.

 _ **Dreams of the future.**_ The monster taunted me in my head and I closed my eyes as tears rolled down my face, trying to block him out. _**You know it's true. You can't hold me back forever. The more your soul cracks, the easier it will be for me! And your soul is already quite cracked.**_

Small hands gave me something to focus in on and I looked to Frisk as he looked at me worriedly. Without a word, he left the room for a couple minutes and then returned, climbing onto my bed and just cuddling up to me.

"It'll be ok." Frisk promised in the same determined tone Sans had had in my dream.

I was silent as I just sat there, allowing him to cuddle me and accepting the hot chocolate from Toriel when she came in without a word. I wondered who were those people in my dreams. It seemed like they were important to me while I was dreaming, but I couldn't think of having met them before. Sometimes I was on a crusade to rescue them and other times I was the one they needed rescuing from. I didn't understand any of this. Ever since my captivity I had dreamt of nothing else but the past. Was I supposed to believe these dreams were also the past? Or that they were the future? It seemed very logical the ones where I was the murderer were manifestations of my fears. But what of the ones where the kid was the murderer?

Not a word was spoken the rest of that night. Neither Frisk nor Toriel left my side, though, and that helped soothe me somewhat.

* * *

" _What do you mean the kid's not in control?" I asked Sans as we sat in Grillby's empty bar, not even the fire monster here to serve us. Something about the place allowed Sans to relax enough to have these talks that we both desperately needed._

" _He's got the soul, or spirit at least, of another human inside his soul," Sans explained. "Apparently he's been calling the shots this whole time."_

 _I blinked, grip tightening on the glass of water I had until the glass cracked underneath it. "How did I not notice?" I wondered._

" _Why would you have?" Sans asked._

" _Because I have a similar issue, Sans," I told him, shadows spreading across my face as he looked at me in surprise. I clutched at my chest. "Have you not taken a look at my soul? I know you can, so why haven't you? I'm in control_ _ **now**_ _but that doesn't mean I can maintain it indefinitely."_

" _Why didn't you say anything?" Sans asked, though he sounded like it wasn't entirely directed at me._

" _When have I had time?" I asked. "We've been chasing Frisk every which way the wind blows ever since he killed Toriel and Papyrus. I haven't had time to think of my own issues. Hell, this is a double-bind type of situation for me, Sans. If I don't stop Frisk, he'll kill everyone and I won't be able to live with myself knowing I failed. But then if I don't deal with my own issues…." I swallowed as my lip quivered. "I'm going to be the one you will have to stop… This monster inside my soul….Sans, his purpose...his goal… is to wipe every living being off the face of the planet…. Humans and monsters… I...I don't know what to do anymore! Every time we catch up to the kid too late and someone else dies I can feel my soul cracking! The more it cracks, the harder it is to maintain control! I don't know how much longer I can do this! Before I just end up failing like I have at everything else."_

" _You should've said something!" Sans shouted, standing up. He looked as if I had betrayed him._

" _Funny for a guy to say who I've known all of a few days!" I shouted back, staring at him with tears in my eyes. "Unless you know something I don't and my memory is crap! Which, hell, it's possible my memory is gone, I'm already losing grip on reality, with these weird dreams that seem so real, I can't even tell what's the dream and what's real anymore, why the hell should I remember anything clearly at this point?" I was breathing heavy between sentences now and my voice got quieter as I spoke. "I haven't even…." I panted, clutching my chest as I looked away. Then I shook my head. "No, it's my responsibility to deal with my soul, that's why I haven't told you. It's not your burden, you have enough to worry about."_

" _Crystal," Sans said firmly and I looked to him in shock._

" _H-how do you know that n-name?" I asked cursing my stuttering._

" _It doesn't matter," Sans sighed. "I suppose I shouldn't expect you to remember." He looked away. "Come on, we better find the kid. I have an idea to stop him…. If it works, maybe we can try it on you as well."_

 _I stared at him in confusion as he waited for me to take his hand. What did he mean? What was I missing? I mean, those dreams were just...dreams, right?_

I woke slowly, a little dazed by the fact my dream hadn't been terrifying. I looked around the room, almost not believing that I was awake until I noticed Frisk was being disturbed by his own dreams. I pushed my own dream to the back of my head as I moved to his side to wake him. It didn't take much and before a full moment even passed, the kid was clinging to me as if he was afraid I was going to disappear.

"Come on, kid," I said as I held him gently. "I'm here. I'm not leaving. It's going to be okay."

As I held the kid, letting him cry his eyes out onto my nightshirt, I thought about my dream. I felt strongly that I was missing something about them. Something that I wasn't sure whether I wanted to see or not. I was afraid that if I had my slight suspicions confirmed then it would destroy me too much to maintain my control.

 _ **You can't keep hiding from truth.**_ The monster taunted me. _**You will see it in time and when you do, I will be waiting to devour your soul completely.**_

 _Shut up, you foolish beast._

 _ **I'm not the one hiding behind a mask of sunshine and daisies.**_

 _No, but you are the one who wants to kill everyone. You do realize God would never let you, right?_ Even as I thought this, I was hit by a sudden realization. Even if he did take control of me, there was no way he would fully succeed. God would place someone into the situation who could stop him. Maybe, even if these dreams were real, He already had.

While that thought made him growl in disgust, it filled me up with Determination and I hugged Frisk slightly tighter.

"It _will_ be ok," I said firmly.

Frisk looked up at me with surprise on his face. When he saw the determined look in my eyes, he smiled and nodded in agreement. With that, we high-fived and laid down to get some more sleep.

This time it was more peaceful and I dreamed that we had nothing but good times with the denizens of the Underground that littered my dreams.


End file.
